Volume 31: Clean Energy Technologies towards Carbon Neutrality

Technoeconomic Comparison of Retrofitting Options towards Green Buildings Yuhao Zhang, Yinkun He, Yuling Fan

Abstract

Building retrofit is one of the most effective ways to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. Many studies on building retrofit have been done in the literature. However, the methods provided in these studies are mostly specialized, which means they are suitable for professional building project decision makers and not for ordinary building owners. As we know, the main force to promote green buildings is ordinary building owners. Therefore, this paper studies the effects of retrofitting each individual facility in a building and simulations are done using EnergyPlus to ensure the accuracy of results, thereby, providing a simple and intuitive retrofit guide for ordinary building owners. Through this guideline, building owners can comprehensively understand the energy and economic benefits brought by the retrofit of each individual facility in the building. Based on this, building owners can easily make appropriate retrofit plans according to their buildings’ situation without paying for professional consultation.

Keywords building retrofit, EnergyPlus, building energy simulation, energy efficiency, payback period